Mark Pennington - Scout Executive Candidate

Striving for Gold

Membership

It is the mission of the council, its staff, and volunteers to expand a quality Scouting program to more youth. It’s why we are here. Every number represents one youth and their family that is being affected by the Scouting program; that one youth is what drives me in going the extra mile every day. ﻿

I learned early on in my career that there are a number of ways to positively affect membership – quality program and an aggressive recruitment effort. I believe in working diligently with the volunteers to maintain what we have by keeping our units and work to have our leaders trained properly so that when a young boy joins the program, he is more likely to stay. In April 2014, I worked with our Council Commissioner, VP of Program, and training chair to implement an aggressive objective of having 100% of our volunteers trained over a three-year period. We are in the last phase of this initiative and I'm pleased to report that by the end of October, we will be at 100% of our volunteers trained for their position and current in Youth Protection Training. I am confident that we will continue seeing an increase in the youth we recruit staying active in Scouting and benefiting from this great program.

I have set the expectation/standard of 90% of units, not just rechartering, but rechartering on-time. We, being the staff and volunteers, accomplish this by working as a team throughout the year and holding each other accountable. We track visits made by both the commissioner staff and field staff. During the recharter period, we communicate with each other and the units on the status and issues that need to be resolved. Through this plan, we have been recognized by the Southern Region as the top council in both unit and youth retention.

﻿Five years ago when the changing atmosphere within our school systems limited access to outside organizations, I realized that not only must recruitment happen year-round, we also needed to strengthen our relationships with the school systems as well. Through our recruitment plan this year, we realized a 10%+ increase in the number of new youth recruited in the spring and are on track for a 10% gain in membership at year-end. I contribute our success to building true partnerships within our school systems and instilling a sense of urgency in the staff and volunteers during key recruiting times. ﻿

This past summer, I spearheaded a cultivation breakfast inviting all law enforcement departments within the council to come together and disuss the importance of partnering together in our schools and communities. With 17 departments on hand, it was a huge success. To Results to date include 6 new and renewed Clubs & Posts, hands on support with school relationships, and a commitment to jointly offer Scouting in distress neighborhoods.

Our success lies not just in what we expect, but inspecting what we expect: